Skip to Main Content

Organizing Research & Citations: Database Organizational Options

How to keep your research and citations organized with citation management and database tools.

Personal Database Accounts

Creating personal accounts in the Library’s databases is not necessary to access the database content. A number of library databases give you the option to create accounts. But why bother creating accounts if you can access the content without them? There are a number of benefits to creating personal database accounts, particularly within databases you frequently utilize. Personal database accounts may allow you to save and organize resources, retrieve your search history, set up various alerts, and more.

How to Create Personal Database Accounts

Database Citations

Many Library databases have tools that allow you to view, export, or email your resource citations in APA Style. Using a database’s citation feature will allow you to immediately display a citation on the database screen, which can then be copied and pasted into your paper. This method is great for quickly recording a source that you have used.

However, for long-term storage and management of these citations, look at the other pages on Citation Management Tools.

To access a database’s citation feature, look for a link that says “Cite,” “Citation Tools,” or a symbol like two quotation marks, or something similar.

In NavigatorSearch, this feature is located on the right-hand side of the detailed record screen, as shown below.

Screenshot of the Roadrunner Cite function showing the APA Style reference.

NOTE: It is important to keep in mind that database citation features are not 100% accurate. Therefore, when using database citation tools, it is extremely important to double-check that all the needed citation elements are in place.

Database Alerts & RSS Feeds

Many Library databases provide the ability to create alerts for content related to your research topic. Depending on the database's service, an alert can provide the table of contents to new issues of journals or a list of new articles based on search terms. Some databases even offer citation alerts, to inform you when a particular article has been cited. Setting up database alerts is a great way to find articles related to those which you have already included in your research. Additionally, it will help you to stay up to date with the latest research and trends in your discipline.

When you set up a search alert, the database automatically runs your search and sends you any search results added since the last time the search was run. You can set searches to run once a day, once a week, or less often.

Most alerts are provided by e-mail or RSS feed. Therefore, you will need to create individual database accounts in order to set up alerts, and in some cases have an RSS Reader account. 

Instructions for Library Database Alerts